The Dogs of Toronto Animal Services South

You know how we celebrate the milestones of our lives with birthdays and weddings and anniversaries and the like? Well, I think there should be a new annual celebration called Speuter Day for our pets which would be like birthdays except, ironically, it would be more about celebrating not being able to give birth though I'm sure our pets won't quibble as long as there is steak involved.

Imagine all the witty one liners those otherwise bored greeting card copywriters could come up with around gonad freedom day. Hallmark, are you paying attention? And don't forget to send along my way those royalty cheques when this idea takes off.

Along with a bunch of other new arrivals, today is Peter's Speuter Day. I'm sure he's not looking forward to it but that's because no one has mentioned it to him and that's probably for the best. Peter is a handsome young Beagle, and like that Beagle from a couple of weeks back, Tinkerbella, who was here and gone in no time, Peter is also a non-barker apparently. At least no one's heard any barks or howls coming from him although I did hear a couple of mouse squeaks when he wanted some attention.

Beagles are generally pretty affectionate but Peter is uberaffectionate. When I sat down to take his photo, he draped himself over my lap and wouldn't get off. I'd lift him off and he'd just clamber back on. I tried holding the camera as far out as possible and took some shots with it facing back at Peter in my lap. Most of those didn't really turn out.

I was finally able to get a few with him standing a few feet away but he wasn't terribly happy about that.

Anyway, Peter, HAPPY SPEUTER DAY!!!

The best way to check on the adoption status of this dog (and other dogs and cats and other small domestic animals) is to visit Toronto Animal Services adoption website or call 416 338 6668 for the Toronto Animal Services South shelter. If the dog is no longer on the TAS adoption website, it's probably because it's been adopted already.

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A request

The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.

The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.

Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.

So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------